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2023 sky guide: 10 stunning events you can't miss this year

by Jennifer Walter
Updated: 
Originally Published: 
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Mark your calendar: 2023 will have no shortage of spectacular skywatching opportunities.

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Beloved meteor showers, breathtaking eclipses, supermoons and much more are in the cards for the new year.

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Here are 10 skywatching highlights for 2023:

10. Quadrantid meteor shower

The first major meteor shower of the year peaks on January 3-4. Watch for bright fireballs, which the Quadrantids are known to produce.

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9. Earth at Perihelion

Earth will be its shortest distance from the Sun on January 4, the point known as perihelion. The Sun will look slightly larger than at aphelion, when Earth is farthest from the Sun (July 6).

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8. Venus and Jupiter conjunction

These super bright planets will be side-by-side on March 1 in a stunning meetup visible to the naked eye. They haven’t been this close together in the sky since 2016.

NASA, ESA, A. Simon (Goddard Space Flight Center), and M.H. Wong (University of California, Berkeley)
7. Hybrid Solar Eclipse

This extremely rare event will be visible on April 20 to skywatchers in Australia and southeast Asia. A hybrid eclipse morphs from a partial to a total eclipse as it happens.

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6. Solstice

June 21 will be the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and the shortest in the Southern Hemisphere. Things flip-flop on December 21, when the north sees its shortest day.

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5. Perseid Meteor Shower

Unlike 2022’s Perseids, which were largely drowned out by the Full Moon, 2023’s show should be much brighter. At the shower’s peak on August 13, the sky will be just days from a New Moon, promising dark skies.

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4. Supermoon

Not only will a brilliant supermoon light up the sky on August 1, but we’ll see a second supermoon on August 31. The phenomenon where a second Full Moon appears in a single month is called a Blue Moon.

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3. Partial Solar Eclipse

On October 14, an annular eclipse will take place over North, Central, and South America. The Moon will appear small as it passes over the Sun, carving out a ring-shaped sliver of light.

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2. Partial Lunar Eclipse

Later in October, people in Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, and parts of South and North America will experience a partial lunar eclipse. It’ll be visible the night of October 28 into October 29.

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1. Geminid meteor shower

Like the Perseids, the 2023 Geminids will also fall around a new Moon. Dark skies will make for spectacular viewing conditions during the shower’s peak on December 13.

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